


Missing

by Jarypo



Category: Touhou Project
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-07
Updated: 2018-10-11
Packaged: 2019-07-27 21:22:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,586
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16227572
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jarypo/pseuds/Jarypo
Summary: A strange amnesia plagues some of the residents of Gensokyou. They’re convinced something’s been stolen from them, but they can’t remember what. Reimu sets out to solve this incident. But how do you find what you can’t remember?





	1. Part 1

On a tepid spring day, the memory of a young girl went missing. The empty space it left behind felt like a tremor in the back of her heart. She spent her morning rummaging through the shrine, but the few possessions she owned were all in their rightful place. Nothing could tell her what it was, nothing more could be explained, only that this young girl felt certain of one thing.

“Something’s been stolen from me,” Reimu Hakurei asserted. She was speaking to the only other person there, the oni girl Suika Ibuki. Suika stretched her small body like a cat out on the porch, not paying attention to anything in particular.

“Marisa ‘borrow’ something without asking?” She said, rolling over to face Reimu.

“Maybe. I’m not sure. I can’t remember what was stolen.” Suika looked at Reimu like she was some strange object. Reimu stared back, dead serious. “Something’s been stolen from me, but I don’t know what it was.” 

“If you don’t know what’s been stolen how can you know it’s been stolen?”

“It’s just. I know something important went missing, like, like.” Reimu stopped and tried to compose her thoughts, but the more she thought about it the less sense it made. She paced back and forth across the porch thinking of ways to explain herself. In resignation, she plopped down next to Suika, who turned to sit upright. “I cannot explain how I know, I just know. Something was stolen and it was important.”

“Who would steal from a dump like this? Even a thief wouldn’t steal from this shrine.” 

“A dump huh?”

Suika turned to smile at the empty space next to her, unaware of Reimu’s position until she fell off the deck with a foot imprint on her behind. “If it’s so shabby then why don’t you drink somewhere else!”

“Ah, sorry, sorry,” Suika said, picking herself up and wiping the dirt off her clothes. When she looked back at Reimu she made her best attempt to put on a serious-looking face. “I can’t explain it either, but I also feel like something is missing.”

Reimu looked at Suika and unconsciously sized her up. “I’m going to check up on some other people.” 

“You don’t believe me!?” Suika cried out as Reimu flew away. “I bet it’s got something to do with those troublesome newcomers!” She shouted as Reimu quickly became a dot in the sky.

“I’ll go to someone who is always being stolen from,” Reimu thought, on her way to the Scarlet Devil Mansion. However, on her way there she came across that someone’s assistant. Koakuma stumbled away from the mansion aimlessly. She did not look well. Reimu called out to her, but was ignored. Reimu floated down until she was standing right in the middle of the road, and Koakuma walked around her as if she was no more than a stone in her way. 

Reimu decided on a more direct approach. “Hey!” Reimu shouted right behind Koakuma.

Koakuma broke out of her trance with a shock. “What! What do you want!?” She had bags under her eyes and her hair looked frayed. She sighed heavily. “My mistress has kept me working nonstop since yesterday morning. Going on about a book being stolen despite not being able to recall its title. She had me do inventory on the entire collection.” She said while rubbing her eyes. “Twice.”

“She said she couldn’t remember the name of the book?” 

“That’s exactly right! I thought the same thing! The Great Unmoving Library! Who remembers all her books! Cannot recall the title of the book she supposedly lost! She probably never possessed the book to begin with! And why go out to so much trouble over one book!” Reimu wanted to ask more questions but Koakuma looked like she was on the verge of passing out. Finding no need to irritate her any further, Reimu left her to wander away. Reimu eyes followed Koakuma sway to and fro until her path curved around the forest. Come to think of it, where would the devilish assistant go? Reimu pondered the thought before shortly discarding it entirely. There were more pressing matters at hand. 

“I’m not the only one that’s been stolen from.” Reimu said aloud as she flew around aimlessly. “And Patchouli also lost her memory. This is surely an incident.” She headed towards the waterfalls of Youkai Mountain. She touched down at the basin. The place was quiet, but only for a moment. A sudden gust of wind blew up behind Reimu. Reimu turned and saw Aya Shameimaru standing next to her.

“What’s the famous shrine maiden doing flying around here?” Aya asked. 

Reimu waited for the usual follow-up involved with Aya, one that never came. Reimu looked to see Aya also was unconsciously expecting the same thing, holding up her hands as if to take a picture. 

“What happened to your camera?” Reimu asked.

“Oh,” Aya looked a little sheepish and turned her head away from Reimu’s gaze. “I sort of… lost it. “

“You lost the camera you keep around your neck at all times, even when you bath and when you sleep?”

“I don’t do either of those things!” Aya said, embarrassed such rumors exist of her and even more embarrassed that she didn’t know them up until now. “A-anyways I’m having Momiji look for it right now.”

“When did you lose it?” 

“I had it yesterday so I must have lost it this morning.” 

The fact that Aya remembers what she lost poked a hole in Reimu’s theory. Reimu pondered if these incidents were still related. “Have you had the chance to gather any news today?” she asked.

“I’ve been looking for my camera all day, so I sent Momiji out to gather stories. But, no matter how hard I looked I just couldn’t find it! So I gave up and called Momiji back to see if she could find it. I only just left now.”

“Poor Momiji,” Reimu thought to herself. “Perhaps it’s been stolen from you?”

Aya’s ear’s perked up. “Oh hoo~ You wouldn’t happen to know the culprit, would you?” She asked, producing a pen and notepad faster than the eye could see.

This new alteration to the incident worried Reimu until she saw Momiji running towards them with a camera dangling around her fist.

“You found it!” Aya said with glee. “Where on earth was it!?”

“When I couldn’t find it, I decided to clean up a little. When I was airing out the futon it fell out of the sheets.” Momiji said rather proudly. “Thank goodness nothing was broken.”

Reimu turned towards Aya but she and the camera were already gone. Reimu sighed, somewhat relieved the nosey tengu was gone. She turned towards Momiji. “What kind of rumors did people tell you today?”

“That’s rude! Bunbunmaru only posts the truth!” 

Reimu stared silently at Momiji in response. Momiji started to sweat under Reimu’s cold gaze. “A-anyways, I was only able to talk to Morichika. I got roped into helping him clean up. He thought something was stolen, but couldn’t remember what it was. And nothing was missing in the first place.” 

“And what about you?”

“What?”

“Do you feel like you’ve lost something? That something’s been stolen from you?”

Momiji looked surprised by the question. “I’m not sure what you mean?”

“Do you believe him. That something was stolen even when nothing was missing?”

“Well, if nothing’s missing then what could be stolen? For Morichika, it was like if you had a very special collection of dolls, and one day they suddenly appeared differently to you. Maybe you just haven’t looked at them for a while, or maybe one was replaced without your knowledge. And you can’t tell whether up until this moment you never really looked at them and something had changed. Or perhaps something important had been forgotten, some reason that went away. Like forgetting something important.”

Reimu looked past Momiji for a moment. “Wait, something was peculiar about that. You wouldn’t happen to have a doll collection, would you? Reimu asked.

Momiji’s face immediately turned crimson. “uh I uh um, w-well I better, be uh going now.” She said as she turned and darted off.

“What a surprisingly cute hobby.” 

“Now what?” Reimu had a number of people she could visit, but she was at an impasse. “Who can I visit who won’t tell me the same thing? Yukari would probably know what to do, but she’s so irritatingly cryptic. Who was someone that could do something like this…Someone who could make a memory disappear.” Reimu recalled someone who could do just that.

The village where Keine Kamishirasawa taught was a short flight away. 

The sun was still high in the sky by the time Reimu reached the village. Keine just finished a class and was waiting in the room when Reimu walked in. 

“Hakurei Reimu. How can I help you?” Keine said.

Reimu studied Keine’s face. She didn’t appear to be nervous and there was no reason why Keine might be the source of the incident. Regardless, she might have some clue as to what’s going on. 

“Kamishirasawa, has anyone requested you remove certain objects from history? 

“No” she said. “I don’t recall anyone making that sort of request recently. You should know I don’t take these matters lightly though.” 

“What does it mean to eat history?”

“Why do you want to know that? What’s this about?”

“I want to know how your power affects the memories of others. What if I told you certain objects have been stolen from the residents of Gensokyo, along with their memories of said objects. Is this not your doing?”

Keine paused and thought carefully about her next words. The shrine maiden was known to beat up people the moment she was suspicious of them and ask questions after. “Personal memories are not history. To eat history is to change what we know about the past of something which alters your perception of it in the present. It does not change the thing itself; it just changes the stories about it. I cannot alter people’s lived memories. An object’s past cannot truly be done away with, it can only be forgotten.” 

“Forgotten,” Reimu said quietly. “What have I forgotten? Keine, have you felt it as well? That something important to you has been stolen?”

“I’m afraid I don’t know what you’re talking about. I don’t believe I’ve lost anything. I don’t spend much time outside the village so I’m usually unaware of the incidents occurring until they’re long past.”  
“Hmm.” Reimu paced the classroom. “What do I do now? Oh this is so much more frustrating when I have to figure things out by myself!”

“Perhaps you should visit Yakumo Yukari?” Keine interjected.

Reimu looked out a window into the street and sighed. “I guess I should.”


	2. Part 2

“You’ll have to wait until Yukari naturally awakens before speaking with her.” Ran Yakumo said.

“Fine” Reimu replied as she dramatically sat on the edge of the porch. She looked out onto the patch of road where nobody passed by. For a while, she stayed like this. The sun began to grace the tree tops when a few people came by. Remilia Scarlet and her maid passed by, umbrella in hand. Patchouli Knowledge was with them as well. 

“AH! I thought I’d find you here!” Remilia said. 

“What are you doing outside of the mansion?” Reimu asked. The question was directed to Remilia but what she really wanted to know was how Patchouli was coaxed out of the house. 

“Patchouli said she just couldn’t stand being in the house any longer and had to leave. She feels as though she’s lost something as well as her memory of it.”

“Yes. It seems like a slightly common occurrence. Have you felt it too?” Reimu asked.

“Of course!” Remilia retorted as if it were obvious.

“Then why do you seem so calm about it?”

“Well when something’s lost you look for it, and when you can’t remember something you also look for it. But what can you do with something that is both lost and forgotten? At that point don’t you think what is gone is trying not to be found? All you can do is simply wait for it to come to you!”

“What a carefree way of thinking” Patchouli added. 

“But doesn’t it bother you?” Reimu asked.

“Of course it bothers me! If it didn’t, why would I worry about it at all? You’re worried what you’ve lost will be gone forever, but as long as it bothers you, you’ll have to find it eventually.” 

“Suffering from some trauma are we?” a voice from behind said. Reimu turned but saw only a closed door. Looking back she found Yukari was already sitting next to her. 

“Yukari.” Reimu studied Yukari’s face, but she just kept an impenetrable, sly smile. “Do you know what’s going on?” 

“Are you convinced that one day, for no reason at all, you simply forgot what you shouldn’t have? That’s a selfish way of thinking. What if one day, for no reason at all, a common thing wanted to be forgotten?”

Reimu felt a shiver in the back of her head.

“Existence demands a sort of selfishness, I suppose. What is forgetting? We have many words for different types of forgetting. Boredom, acceptance, ordinary. It is easy to forget what has vanished, but oh so hard to remember.”

“Yukari.” Reimu’s head felt strange. Her vision could only focus on one thing at a time. Her heartbeat rang in her ears.

“I shouldn’t need to remind you for that matter. It’s already been said.”

“Already said?” Reimu felt like she was falling over. She couldn’t remember a thing that’s been said today. 

Yukari looked up at the sky. There were a few clouds, a warm wind blew occasionally. She decided it was a pleasant evening.

“That little oni girl is much nicer than I am.” 

Reimu suddenly straightened her back to the point of it popping. It felt like air leaked out of her ears and eyes as she breathed deeply through her nose. In a flash the events of the day passed before her until she remembered the first thing she heard.

“Marisa.”

The world closed back around her. “Marisa Marisa Marisa. Where was Marisa?” 

Without a word Reimu sprinted off the porch. She continued to run, across the roads and into the woods. She jumped over tree roots, flew over the marshes, and moved as fast as she could until she reached a small clearing. Marisa’s house looked empty. Reimu knocked on the door anyways, then entered immediately.

Marisa’s house consisted of one big main room with several smaller rooms on the sides sides. There was a big cauldron in the center with a vent in the ceiling that led to the chimney on the roof. There were books and things scattered all over the floor. 

A strange glimmer caught Reimu’s attention. There was a little movement coming from the bedroom. She rushed in and yelped in surprise of her own reflection. A large floor mirror stood by the door. “Was that always there?” Reimu thought to herself. The room looked like it had been empty for a while. She moved over to a desk with nothing on it. 

“What are you hoping to find?” The voice was Yukari’s. Reimu checked under the desk and rummaged through the drawers.

“She wouldn’t just up and leave without leaving a clue behind.”

“What makes you think that?”

“Because I remember her.”

Reimu went back to the bed. It was a standard western bed. Wood frame, looked kind of childish. Reimu looked under the bed, under the sheets, and started to take apart the bed. 

“Nothing’s here” Reimu said as she moved back to the main room. She picked up the books, looking through them briefly before stacking them up in a corner. She managed to get through twenty books before looking around realizing she barely made a dent in the pile. Just how many books does Marisa have!? She stopped flipping through books, only looking at the title before putting it away. When her pile reached her head she looked to see how much progress she’s made. There were books everywhere. Her pile was barely a fraction of books left about, and there were still individual papers and notes scattered around. 

“Aaagghh! This is so pointless! What am I supposed to do!?” Reimu sat down holding her face in her knees. “This is too much.” In a daze she saw something in the corner of her eye. Someone else was picking up books. She looked up to see Patchouli giving the books a look over before stacking them up in her own pile. Reimu looked at her for a moment. Perhaps she too was on the verge of tears?

“I’m only looking for what was mine to begin with.” Patchouli said aloud. “There’s no reason to give up just yet” she muttered. 

“That’s right!” Remilia shouted, emerging from the second room with a single book in her hand. Sakuya followed carrying her own stack. 

Yukari, half leaning out of a portal, picked up a few books at a leisurely pace. Reimu looked at her. “So you don’t know where she went?”

“All I know is that she’s doing an excellent job at trying not to be found.” Yukari said.

Reimu stopped picking up the books. “Trying not to be found?”

“I said it before didn’t I?”

“I…” Reimu started, but paused and thought about it. “Would she come back on her own? Maybe, but how long would I have to wait? I don’t want to wait for Marisa to come back, however long it would take. Not knowing is the worst of it.”  
The group went silent. Their rummaging hadn’t produced anything. The only thing Marisa left behind was a bunch of borrowed goods and a mess of notebooks. Patchouli had already scanned through them, but they were mostly just recipes. Reimu continued to look behind and under every piece of furniture hoping to find something, even if she didn’t know what. Exhausted from her search, Reimu sat down on the floor. “Why would she just leave without telling anyone,” Reimu said aloud.

“Even I don’t know what goes on in that girls mind,” Patchouli said. 

“She’s certainly clever,” Remilia chimed in.

“A mischievous little girl,” Sakuya said.

“A curiosity no doubt.” Yukari said. 

“It’s a shame really. The mansion will be a lot quieter without her around.” Remilia said. 

“Yes,” Patchouli agreed. “It’ll be hard to lose such a talented colleague.

“Wait a minute,” Reimu said.

“Lady Flandre will also be very disappointed,” Sakuya said.

“Oh don’t worry. I’m sure Marisa will come back eventually. Flan will just have to wait a short while. She’s used to that kind of thing anyways.”

“You. You guys can’t really just wait for her to come back!?” Reimu shouted.

Everyone looked at her curiously. 

“Of course we can?” Remilia said, almost unsure if the question was rhetorical. 

“I think the only way to find her is to look for her.” Reimu said sternly.

“Well, certainly you can go about looking. But is it truly ok to find someone who’s hiding from you? Is that what Marisa wants? Are you sure you’re not trying to include us in on your selfishness?” Yukari chided. 

Reimu wanted to respond but was at a loss for words considering she thought the same thing moments ago.

“Well it’s been fun!” Yukari said before slipping through one of her portals. “Good luck on your search!” She waved as the portal closed.

“We should get going to,” Remilia said. “Did you gather all the books?”

“Yes my lady,” Sakuya said, suddenly producing a sack filled with books in front of her.

“You’re not going to help me?” Reimu said rather pitifully.

“Don’t worry. I have a really good feeling that she’ll come back soon” Remilia said before the group set off back to the mansion.

Perhaps it was foolish to rely on things whose lifespans goes into the thousands.

 

Left to her own devices, Reimu wandered around the surrounding area. The sun began to dip over the horizon, basking the land in an orange glow.

“Where would I go if I didn’t want to be found? Why did she leave in the first place?” Reimu pondered as she walked aimlessly through the forest. She was unfamiliar with the area.

“I’d probably just go hide at someone else’s house.” Reimu thought. “but Marisa wouldn’t do that. She’s too smart for that.” Reimu thought she saw some movement in the distance and headed to the spot. 

“She’s so ridiculously smart, she’d come up with a hiding spot I’d never think of,” she said.

Reimu continued to follow the shadow movement. It felt like she was chasing nothing but shadows. And the darker it got the harder it was to see. But at every turn something wavered in front of her. If there was something there, it was moving away just as fast. Reimu started to run towards the various ghost-like movements. 

“She’s so smart, she’s so stupidly smart. She’s so” Reimu’s foot snagged on a root. Her forward momentum carried her a few feet before she crashed into a bush. She found herself staring at the world upside down. 

“What am I doing?” She picked herself up and began pulling pieces of branch out of her hair. She looked up, suddenly staring at herself. Reimu saw, some 20 meters away, another Reimu looking away from her. The sun finally set over the horizon, leaving just enough light for her to barely see. She looked behind herself, seeing only the path she stumbled through. “Where… am I?” 

Reimu looked forward to see her own back. She began walking towards her double, who also began to move forward at the same pace. Still, Reimu felt she was getting closer to her mirror image, so she broke into a sprint. She ran blindly through the dark, focusing only on the thing in front of her. The distance between Reimu and her double closed, but only as Reimu moved faster. The edge of the forest was fast approaching. Reimu jumped forward, getting ever closer to her double, flying to keep steady. She reached out to grab her double’s leg. She grabbed it and pulled down. The forest cleared and Reimu suddenly fell. She hit the ground hard. She tumbled forward, rolling, and rolling, until she came to a stop, slapping her back on the ground.   
Reimu stared up at the night sky. Something about it was strange looking. It wasn’t as clear as normal. The stars were not only dimmer, but they appeared to be in the wrong spots, like it was an entirely different sky. Then it became quite clear to her  
.   
“She left Gensokyo.” 

Tears formed at the edge of her eyes. “The last time I saw her was only four days ago. She came to visit me. She always comes to visit me.” A choked sob interrupted her thoughts. “When was the last time I visited her? When was the last time I,” Reimu coughed painfully.

“ow”

Reimu laid there for a while. “Was it really that bad? To leave us altogether?” She looked behind herself. She was on a hill with a few trees, but it wasn’t the same forest she left. The vast forest that populates Gensokyo was nowhere to be seen. 

“How on earth will I find her now?” Reimu said, hot tears streaming down her face.

Her legs hurt but she started to walk uphill. She felt if she could just reach the top of the hill and find out where she was, she would have an idea of what to do. Her whole body pulsed with each heartbeat and every step was in agony. But still she slowly she made her way up. 

The top of the hill was flat and covered with tall grass. All around her was a vast, silent emptiness. Reimu could no longer move, think, or even cry out. She fell over and stared up into that unfamiliar starry expanse. She laid there until her body cooled and she could no longer hear her own heartbeat. When her whole body stopped hurting, she stood up. The hill glowed in the moonlight. It was still too dark to make out much in the distance. But there was still enough light for Reimu to look around. 

But she didn’t. Exhausted by the day and paralyzed by the revelation that she was no longer in Gensokyo, with no idea where to start looking, all Reimu could do was sit back down. It was too much to consider. 

Somewhere in the distance, a faint rustling could be heard. Reimu, without thinking, began to move towards it. She attempted to run but stumbled. Her legs hurt too much. She moved as fast as her body would allow for, stumbling her way towards the space, guided only by her ears. She had tunnel-vision and the circles around here were growing smaller. She got to the spot only to find an empty clearing and a rabbit, which darted off at the sight of her. Reimu fell over in defeat. The stars began to wink out of existence as her tunnel-vision worsened. She was so tired. All she wanted to do was sleep. Her eyelids drooped. When all she could see was shadows she heard a voice speak up.

“You sleepin’ here?” 

Reimu’s eyes shot wide open. A confused looking Marisa was standing at her side, staring down at her. Reimu immediately stood up. She looked up at Marisa, her face beet-red with tears blocking her vision. She ran into Marisa, hugging her tightly and knocking both of them to the ground. “Marisa!” she coughed out. 

“What what? Let me go! You’re crushin’ me!” Marisa said, pulling on Reimu’s arms. 

“Don’t leave!” Reimu said. “Don’t ever leave. Even if you have to leave, don’t go without telling anyone!” Reimu looked up through tears. She looked at Marisa’s face and started crying again, burying her head in Marisa’s chest. 

“m so” she coughed. Her voice was muffled as she talked into Marisa’s clothes. “I’m sorry. I’m sorry I’m sorry I’m sorry.”

Marisa looked a little confused but held Reimu’s head. “It’s ok.

“I’m sorry.”

“I know.”

“I’m so sorry.”

Marisa kept silent while Reimu continued apologizing. This lasted a while until Marisa got bored. “Alright already! Stop apologizing! It’s no wonder I left since you guys can’t go one day without bothering me!” 

Reimu looked at Marisa with eyes open with shock and still full of tears.

“Anyways,” Marisa said, turning her back towards Reimu. “I need your help getting back into Gensokyo.”

Marisa started to take a few steps before Reimu walked up behind her and grabbed the hem of Marisa’s skirt. “You’re not mad are you?”

Marisa stopped walking. “Of course not.”

“…good” Reimu said. She leaned against Marisa’s back and buried her tears in Marisa’s golden hair. The night was incredibly quiet as neither moved. Marisa took a step away but was rooted in place by Reimu.

“Reimu?” Marisa said, looking back. The girl made no sound, except for the rhythmic warmth of her breath against Marisa’s back. She was fast asleep, leaving Marisa no choice but to carry her. 

“Ahh, damnit. That’s not fair.” she said, wiping away her own tears shimmering in the moonlight, wanting to stay like this forever.


End file.
